Helbren adjusted the shoulder plate of his shining armor as he stepped into a side corridor. It would be a few minutes before he was missed and, walking briskly, he quickly made his way toward the gate room. He tensed a little as he passed behind a guard, but his magic served its purpose. The guard didn’t turn.

He drew his sword and it’s ring was absent. He couldn’t even hear himself breathing, but as he quickened his pace he could hear the scraping of his armor and the dull thud of his steps. Soon he was running, but he heard only the jangle of his chain shirt as if he were walking. He rushed into the gate room and the guards there looked up absently at the new comer before realizing he was a foe. He struck one down before the others could reach for weapons and very soon he had cut down the rest, their dampened cries not reaching far beyond the room.

He readjusted his shoulder plate and sounds of the soldiers in the marshalling yard suddenly sounded in his ears. He whistled the signal to his companions outside the wall and began to open the gate.

If you don’t know the Mind Weave enchanting rules, this resource will help you keep up: Enchanter’s Almanack.

I’ve got a player in an upcoming play test campaign playing an assassin. He wants as much armor as he can get, but doesn’t want to sacrifice speed or stealth to get it. He’s settled on splint mail, but it got me thinking about an enchantment for a stealthy man in full armor, suitable for a sneaking paladin.

Lesser Whisper Plate

Understand Artifact: 50 to understand it causes silence when worn, 80 to determine that the silence can be turned off by sliding a shoulder plate further down on the left shoulder.

This is a lesser enchant, so it could be made pretty cheaply. The suit is “on” sized and takes an enchanter 2 weeks to make, costing him 1/4 of a major ability.

While plate mail makes significant noise even when moving carefully, this enchant emits an anti-sound constantly, canceling any sound. The nature of the enchant is to cast an encharge on the wearer that repeats an effect each round. This encharge contains 4 charges, repeating each round with an anti-sound of 30*12/4/4*0.9116=20.5 dB. This is enough to silence careful footfalls. Plate mail makes some louder noises, but this muffles them enough that they carry a much shorter distance.

A greater enchant could be used to improve the stealth, making “Greater Whisper Plate.” This would have an anti-sound of 60*12/4/4*0.98895=44.5 dB, enough to silence whispers or footfalls, even conversation or the sound of plate mail boots would carry only a short distance, like a whisper under normal conditions. This would serve a sneaking paladin well, but he would still have to move carefully, especially if someone might be nearby to hear him.

An epic enchant could do so much more. “Epic Whisper Plate” has an anti-sound of 120*12/4/4*0.9986=89.87 dB. This is enough to silence even shouting or piano playing. easily. Wearing Epic Whisper Plate, the paladin wouldn’t need to sneak at all. He could charge down stone corridors without alerting anyone to his presence, except by a silence that would precede him, dampening conversations and the sputtering of torches in a way that an attentive guard might notice. In any case, with the sound of his charging, the residual silence would reach only a little way ahead of him. He’d take most people by surprise when he doesn’t pass by unnoticed.

How’d you like seeing an enchantment? Would you want a set of Whisper Plate? How might you modify it? Did you enjoy the discussion of different powered enchants?

What enchantments would you make? Tell us below and we may do it in a coming week.